Combination book mailing enclosure and book protector



Feb. 4, 1969 E. B. GERALD 3,425,617

COMBINATION BOOK MAILING ENCLOSURE AND BOOK PROTECTOR Filed Jan. 16, 1968 She et of 2 BY g I WRNEY:

Feb. 4, 1969 E. B. GERALD 3,425,617

CC'MBINATION BOOK MAILING ENCLOSURE AND BOOK PROTECTOR Filed Jan. 15, 1968 Sheet 3 of 2 NVENTOR A/245:7 5- 656440 BY J 3.. MW

United States Patent Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pair of book-cover-size panels are joined by a flexible web, so that when book is closed one panel overlies each book cover and web overlies book spine. Flexible flaps hinged to upper edges of both panels, and lower and side edge of one panel. Flaps carry pressure sensitive adhesive covered by removable protective strips. Flexible band may extend across inner surface of device, one end of band secured to each panel. r

This invention relates generally to book accessories, and has particular reference to a combination book protector and mailing enclosure.

A device constructed in accordance with this invention is intended for use with a conventional book having front and back covers and an intermediate spine to which the pages are bound. When associated with such a book, it serves as an effective enclosure within which the book may be mailed, the device serving to guard the book completely against injury while being transmitted through the mail. Furthermore, after the book is received, the enclosure may be readily converted to a protective covering for the book, useful while the latter is read.

The device comprises, in brief, a pair of stilf panels having a size comparable to that of the book covers and adapted to be placed against the outer surfaces of the book covers, and a flexible connector between the panels adapted to overlie the book spine. Flexible flaps extend along the upper edges of both panels, and along the lower and free side edge of at least one of the panels. These flaps serve to enclose the top, bottom, and front ends of the book, as well as to seal the panels closed when the device is used as a book mailing enclosure. Furthermore, the flaps bear a pressure sensitive adhesive on their inner faces, the adhesive being initially covered by protective strips, by means of which the flaps may be secured to the inner faces of the book covers after the mailing enclosure is opened, thereby converting the mailing enclosure to a book protector secured to the book.

If desired, only the upper flaps may be secured to the book covers, so that the panels are hinged to the book along the upper edges of the book covers. In this case, the other flaps may be secured to the inner faces of the panels. The hinged panels may in this way serve both as a book protector and a reading prop. In addition, a flexible band may extend forwardly from the hinged panels and encircle the book, thereby serving to limit the rearward movement of the panels and hold the open book pages down. i

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a face view of a combined book mailing enclosure and book protector, according to this invention, when in flat condition;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view book and ready for mailing;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

of the device enclosing a FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the device in use as a book protector; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the device in an alternative use as a reading prop.

The book accessory chosen to illustrate the present invention, and shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a pair of stiff panels 10 and 11, joined by a flexible connector 12. The panels 10 and 11 have dimensions comparable to those of the covers of the book with which the device is to be used, and the connector 12 has a width substantially greater than the width of the book spine, although the portion of the connector 12 extending across the space between the panels has a width about equal to the book spine width. The panels 10 and 11 may be rectangular elements of any suitable stiff material such as cardboard, and they may be covered with a decorative layer of paper or thin sheet plastic. In the present example, coverings 13 and 14 are adhesively secured to the outer faces of the panels 10 and 11, respectively. The connector 12 may be of any suitable flexible material, such as paper or sheet plastic, and is secured to the adjacent margins of the panels, or more correctly the panel coverings, by adhesive. If desired, a separate connector 12 need not be used, but instead the coverings l3 and 14 may be part of a single sheet, a portion of which spans the space between the panels 10 and 11.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the panel 10 is provided with three flaps and the panel 11 with one flap. These flaps may be separate elements of flexible material secured to the panels in a manner similar to the securement of connector 12, or the flaps may be, as shown, extensions of the coverings 13 and 14 beyond the appropriate edges of their respective panels. The flaps 17 represent extensions of the coverings 13 and 14 beyond the upper edges of the panels 10 and 11, the flap 18 is an extension of covering 13 beyond the lower edge of panel 10, and the flap 19 is an extension of the covering 13 beyond the free side edge of panel 10.. In all cases, the flaps 17-19 are flexible and may readily be bent around their respective edges of the panels 10 and 11.

Each flap 17-19 bears a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive 20 on its inner face, and has a protective covering 21 of readily peelable material overlying the adhesive. If desired, for a reason to be described below, the flap 19 may be slit along its entire length at 22 to define a removable portion 23 of the flap. However, since the protective covering 21 of flap 19 is not slit, the covering initially holds the flap 19 and portion 23 in edge-to-edge relationship as shown. The flap 19 may also have an additional short slit 25 extending transversly between the free side edge of the panel 10 and the slit 22. It will be noticed that the covering 21 of the flap 19 terminates short of the side edge of the removable portion 23, leaving a strip of adhesive 20 exposed. Furthermore, if desired, a flexible band 24, which may be of elastic material may extend across the inner faces of the two panels 10 and 11, each end of the band being secured to one of the panels adjacent to its free side edge.

The manner in which the device is utilized as a book mailing enclosure is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. A book 28, having front and rear covers 29 and 30, respectively, is sandwiched between the panels 10 and 11 with the connector 12 extending along the book binding. The upper and lower flaps 17 and 18 of the bottom panel 10 extend upwardly to cover the upper and lower ends, respectively, of the book, and the margins of these allaps are held between the rear book cover 30 and the panel 11 so that the flaps are maintained in place. The flap '17 of panel 11 is for the sake of neatness, also located between the book cover 30, and panel 11, but at this time it serves no function. The side flap 19, 23 of panel 10 extends upwardly to cover the fron end of the book, and the portion 23 of the flap overlies the panel 11. The entire mailing enclosure is held closed by the adhesive securement of the margin of flap portion 23 to the outer face of covering 14 of panel 11. When the device is used as a mailing enclosure, all the protective coverings 21 remain in place, so that the only exposed adhesive 20 is that along the margin of flap portion 23 (see FIG. 1), and it is this adhesive which keeps the enclosure sealed. It will be appreciated that because the book 28 is completely enclosed by the flaps and stiff panels, it is not susceptible to injury during transfer through the mails. The name and address of the person to whom the book is mailed may be written directly on the exposed face of flap portion 23, or a label bearing this information may be affixed in that location.

When the book is received by the addressee, the mailing enclosure of FIGS. 3 and 4 may be opened, simply by lifting the flap portion 23 from the covering 14 of panel 11 to which it is secured, and converted to a book protector as shown in FIG. 5. This is done by first the panels 10 and 11 against the outer surfaces of the book covers 29 and 30, respectively, and the connector 12 against the outer surface of the book binding. The protective covering 21 is then peeled off the flaps 17, and these flaps are folded over the upper edges of the front and rear book covers 29 and 30 and adhesively secured to the inner faces of the covers as shown. Likewise, the protective covering is peeled off the flap 18, and the latter is folded over the lower edge of the front cover 29 and secured to its inner face. Finally, the protective covering 21 is peeled off the flap 19 with the result that removable portion 23 is detached from the flap 19, along the slit 22. Consequently, the portion 23 with its expended adhesive area, which was used to seal the mailing enclosure, and the addressee information, may be discarded. The flap 19 is then folded over the free side edge of the front cover 29 and secured to its inner face.

Obviously, additional flaps may be provided along the lower and free side edge of the panel 11, but it has been found that the flaps illustrated serve to attach the protector to the book in a sufficiently secure manner. Furthermore, when the device is used as shown in FIG. 5, the band 24 serves no function and may if desired be eliminated.

An alternative way of using the device is shown in FIG. 6. In this case, the flaps 17 are folded over the top edges, and secured to the inner faces, of the covers 29 and 30, as in FIG. 5. However, the flaps 18 and 19 are folded over the respective edges, and secured to the inner face, of the panel 10, and are not in any way secured to the book covers. As a result, the flaps 17 serve in effect to hinge the device to the book 28 along the upper edges of the covers 29 and 30. Thus, the panels 10 and 11 may be brought to a position in which they overlie and protect the book covers, or they may be swung away from the book covers to serve as a reading prop, as shown. In this condition, the flexible band 24, which may be stretchable, is brought forward to encircle the open book, thereby serving simultaneously to limit the rearward swing of the panels 10 and 11, and to hold the open book pages down. The slit 25 in the flap 19 allows the band 24 to pass through the flap, as shown.

The invention has been shown and described in preferred form only, and by way of example, and many variations may be made in the invention which will still be comprised within its spirit.

What is claimed is:

1. For use with a conventional book having front and back covers and an intermediate spine to which the pages are bound, a combination book mailing enclosure and book protector comprising:

(a) a pair of stiff panels having a size comparable to that of the book covers and adapted to be placed against the outer surfaces of the book covers respectively,

placing (b) a flexible connector between said panels adapted to extend across the spine of the book,

(0) a flexible flap hinged along the upper edge of each of said panels and adapted when the device is used as a book protector to extend around the upper edge, and be secured to the inner face, of its respective book cover, the inner faces of said flaps bearing a pressure sensitive adhesive, and carrying removable protective coverings over said adhesive, said coverings being removed and said adhesive securing said flaps to the inner faces of their respective book covers when the device is used as a book protector, at least one of said flaps being large enough to extend around and completely cover the upper end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said one flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(d) a flexible flap hinged along the lower edge of one of said panels and being large enough to extend around and completely cover the lower end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(e) a flap hinged along the free side edge of one of said panels and being large enough to extend around and completely cover the front end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(f) at least one of said fiap portions overlying the outer face of the panel to which it is not hinged, and

(g) means for securing said one flap portion to the panel which it overlies to close the device when it is used as a mailing enclosure.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the inner faces of flaps (d) and (e) bear a pressure sensitive adhesive, and including removable protective coverings over said adhesive, said coverings being removed and said adhesive securing said flaps (d) and (e) to the inner faces of their respective book covers when the device is used as a book protector.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the inner faces of flaps (d) and (e) bear a pressure sensitive adhesive, and including removable protective coverings over said adhesive, said coverings being removed and said adhesive securing said flaps (d) and (e) to the inner faces of their respective panels when the device is used as a book protector, said panels thereby being articulated by said flaps (c) to the book covers, whereby said panels can overlie and protect the book when it is closed and can be swung rearwardly away from the book covers to serve as props when the book is open, and a flexible band extending forwardly and adapted to encircle the open book, the ends of said band being secured to said panels so that said band serves simultaneously to limit the rearward swing of said panels and to hold the book pages down.

4. For use with a conventional book having front and back covers and an intermediate spine to which the pages are bound, a combination book mailing enclosure and book protector comprising:

(a) a pair of stiff panels having a size comparable to that of the book covers and adapted to be placed against the outer surfaces of the book covers respectively,

(b) a flexible connector between said panels adapted to extend across the spine of the book,

(c) a flexible flap hinged along the upper edge of each of said panels and adapted when the device is used as a book protector to extend around the upper edge, and be secured to the inner face, of its respective book cover, at least one of said flaps being large enough to extend around and completely cover the upper end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said one flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(d) a flexible flap hinged along the lower edge of one of said panels and being large enough to extend around and completely cover the lower end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said .flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(e) a fiap hinged along the free side edge of one of said panels and being large enough to extend around and completely cover the front end of the book when the device is used as a mailing enclosure, a portion of said flap being bendable around an edge of the book so as to lie parallel to the book covers,

(f) at least one of said flap portions overlying the outer face of the panel to which it is not hinged, and (g) means for securing said one flap portion to the panel which it overlies to close the device when it is used as a mailing enclosure,

(h) the inner faces of said flaps bearing a pressure sensitive adhesive, and carrying removable protective coverings over said adhesive, said covering on said one flap portion (f) being smaller than said one flap portion (f) so that a portion of the adhesive on the latter is exposed, said exposed adhesive serving as said means (g) for securing said one flap portion (f) to said panel.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said flap including said one flap portion (f) is slit along its entire length along a line between its respective panel edge and said exposed adhesive, and said removable protective covering extends across said slit, whereby when said covering is removed the portion of the flap bearing said exposed adhesive is detached and may be discarded.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,289,824 12/1966 Boitel 20646 3,380,644 4/1968 DAlessio 206-46 X DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

